Introducing – Two New Finn Lambs!

Sometimes things just fall into place…

Such is the case with our new ram lamb from Stillmeadow Finnsheep in New York!  He is a gray badgerface twin  who carries brown.  Here is a photo of him in the isolation pen.  Those are sawdust chips on his back, left over from the transport.

Elizabeth at Stillmeadow Finnsheep has a closed flock with six flock sires.  I was browsing Finnsheep sites and came across this stunning ram lamb.  After a few quick emails I learned that yes, indeed, he was available and there was a gentleman from Minnesota who was purchasing a group of sheep from her.  I spoke with Chad and made arrangements to pick up the ram.  This was all possible because he was willing to provide transport for a very minimal fee.  Thank you, Chad!

The ram’s sire is a brown spotted ram from Eldorado stock and dam is a gray badgerface ewe from Cook stock.  We are so excited to have his excellent genetics added to our flock!  He and our current Finn flock sire Eino (with Wee Croft roots) will give us almost every color and pattern possibility – white, black, brown, gray along with badgerface and spotting.  We will work on piebald in the future.

I couldn’t get a very good photo of his fleece but here is a sample.  He is a very light gray – the blue cast is visible on the left in the photo.  And look at that crimp and shine!  Elizabeth said I would like this ram lamb and his fleece.  She is right – I am very happy with this boy.  Thank you, Elizabeth!

An enjoyable drive…

So yesterday, I drove a few hours away to meet Chad and pick up the ram.  After a particularly rough week – I will save that for another post – I looked forward to the drive and it was a glorious “puffy cloud, blue sky day.”  Gail Von Bargen agreed to join me for the day; we had a great day of good conversation and a nice lunch.  We decided I should bring home one of her ewe lambs I was purchasing so I drove to her place and picked up a lovely black spotted Finn ewe lamb (who carries brown.)  I will call her Katariina.  Her fleece is super soft – it feels like it is melts beneath my fingers!